Fossils, Food, Future: This Week's Regeneration Research Digest

What the latest research reveals about regenerative practices

This week’s research pick examines the intertwined crises of biodiversity loss, fossil dependency, and planetary resource depletion through the shared lens of transition—whether ecological, technological, or economic. Across food systems, energy sectors, and conservation science, the studies collectively ask what it means to shift from extractive to regenerative models of coexistence on a finite Earth.

From the biodiversity toll of our diets to the illusion of fossil-fueled “transitions,” these papers reveal how both production systems and narratives must evolve. They point to the need for systemic realignment: aligning consumption, governance, and technology with the ecological realities they depend on.

Dive into the full findings below:

• Mapping diets and extinction risks: Global food consumption drives massive offshored biodiversity loss; ruminant meat poses extinction risks hundreds of times higher than grains.

• Fossil fuel illusion of transition: Oil and gas firms own barely 1.4% of global renewable capacity—most from acquisitions, not transformation.

• AI in biodiversity conservation: Machine learning and remote sensing enhance ecological monitoring but must remain socially grounded.

• Valuing water as a common good: Treating water as a global commons can align food, climate, and biodiversity goals through regenerative practices and dietary shifts.

Mapping Diets and Extinction Risks

This Nature Food article quantifies, for the first time at global resolution, how the production and consumption of different foods contribute to species extinction risks. Using the LIFE biodiversity metric to track the marginal impact of land use on ~30,000 terrestrial vertebrates, the authors link FAO production and consumption data to model how provenance, diet, and agricultural practices shape extinction opportunity costs across 174 countries.

They find that the biodiversity impact of producing one kilogram of food can vary by up to three orders of magnitude. Animal products, especially ruminant meat, impose extinction risks up to 340 times greater than grains and 100 times greater than legumes, largely due to their high land demands. Crops grown in tropical regions—where biodiversity and endemism are highest—carry especially severe impacts. Conversely, staples such as grains, roots, and vegetables have relatively low biodiversity costs per kilogram.

Country-level comparisons reveal that most extinction risks from food consumption in wealthy nations are effectively offshored: in Japan and the UK, over 95% of biodiversity losses linked to diets occur abroad, while tropical producers like Brazil bear the ecological burden of both domestic and exported food production. Modeling alternative diets in the United States shows that shifting from current consumption patterns to the EAT–Lancet “planetary health” diet could reduce extinction impacts by nearly three-quarters, while vegetarian or vegan diets would cut them by over half again.

The authors conclude that agriculture remains the single largest driver of global biodiversity loss and that reducing animal product consumption—particularly ruminant meat—is the most powerful lever for mitigation. They warn, however, that “green” agricultural policies in low-biodiversity regions risk exacerbating global harm if they increase reliance on imports from ecologically rich tropical zones.

Read more: Food impacts on species extinction risks can vary by three orders of magnitude (Nature Food, 2025)

The Fossil Fuel Illusion of Transition

This Nature Sustainability brief communication delivers a sharp empirical rebuke to oil and gas companies’ claims of driving the clean energy transition. Analyzing 250 of the world’s largest oil and gas firms—together responsible for 88% of global hydrocarbon output—the authors find that the sector owns just 1.42% of global renewable energy capacity, and that renewables account for a mere 0.13% of its total primary energy production.

Drawing on data from the Global Energy Monitor, IRENA, and corporate filings, the authors trace ownership across nearly 2,000 wind, solar, hydro, and geothermal projects. Over half of this renewable capacity stems from acquisitions rather than new developments, and more than two-thirds is concentrated in Europe, the US, India, and Brazil. Only 49 of the 250 firms have any operating renewable projects at all. Even leaders like TotalEnergies generate less than 2% of their energy from renewables; most North American majors have virtually none.

The findings challenge the popular narrative that fossil fuel giants are “part of the solution.” Their participation in renewables is largely financial and symbolic, serving to sustain social and political legitimacy amid mounting decarbonization pressure. The authors argue that genuine transition cannot be measured in megawatts added but in barrels left unextracted and infrastructure decommissioned—a transformation the industry has yet to embrace.

Read more: Oil and gas industry’s marginal share of global renewable energy (Nature Sustainability, 2025)

Integrating Artificial Intelligence in Biodiversity Conservation

This Biodiversity and Conservation review explores how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming traditional biodiversity protection, reframing it as a hybrid practice that fuses ecological expertise with computational intelligence. The authors trace the evolution from classical conservation—anchored in habitat protection, legal frameworks, and community participation—to contemporary, data-driven systems capable of adaptive, real-time decision-making.

The paper surveys how AI technologies, from genetic barcoding and satellite remote sensing to machine learning for species identification and predictive modeling, are reshaping monitoring, threat assessment, and ecosystem management. Case studies highlight AI’s success in tracking Amur leopards, detecting Amazon deforestation, and mapping coral reef health, showing how automation accelerates both precision and scale.

Yet the authors caution that AI’s promise is tempered by data scarcity, high implementation costs, and ethical concerns around surveillance, bias, and technological inequity. They call for “synergistic integration,” where AI augments rather than replaces community knowledge and field-based methods, ensuring that conservation remains socially grounded and ecologically just. Ultimately, the article positions AI as a bridge, linking traditional stewardship with digital foresight, to create more adaptive, transparent, and sustainable pathways for protecting biodiversity.

Read more: Integrating Artificial Intelligence in Biodiversity Conservation: Bridging Classical and Modern Approaches (Biodiversity and Conservation, 2025) [paywall]

ChatGPT said:

Valuing Water as a Common Good

This IWMI policy brief applies the Global Commission on the Economics of Water framework to food systems, calling for a paradigm shift in how water is valued, governed, and managed. It argues that the global hydrological cycle, disrupted by overuse, pollution, and climate change, must be treated as a global common good central to both ecological and economic stability.

The brief highlights that agriculture drives 70% of freshwater withdrawals and over one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions, linking water depletion, climate change, and biodiversity loss as mutually reinforcing crises. With 2.9 billion people living in regions of declining water storage that supply 55% of the world’s food, the authors warn that current food systems are operating beyond the planet’s hydrological limits.

To restore balance, the brief outlines a “new water revolution” anchored in three goals:

1. Boost water productivity by reducing agricultural water use by one-third while raising yields, through micro-irrigation, rainwater harvesting, and regulatory caps.

2. Expand regenerative agriculture from 15% to 50% of global cropland by 2050, to rebuild soil health, enhance water retention, and restore carbon and biodiversity.

3. Shift diets toward 30% plant-based proteins by 2050, primarily in high-income nations, to cut water and emissions footprints.

By redefining water economics around environmental sustainability, social equity, and economic efficiency, the brief positions hydrological resilience as the foundation for food security, climate action, and global well-being.

Read more: The Economics of Water for Transitioning Food Systems (International Water Management Institute (IWMI), 2025)

The regenerative business practices and sustainability innovations highlighted in this week’s Regenerative Insights directly tackle the critical issues of corporate responsibility explored in my recent book explored in my recent book, The Profiteers: How Business Privatizes Profit and Socializes Cost.